Amnesty International slams Nauru detention centre

Updated
November 20, 2012 18:15:00

Amnesty International inspectors have slammed the conditions at Australia's immigration detention centre in Nauru. Inspectors today met more than one hundred people staying at the centre and visited two detainees who are reportedly in hospital after going on a hunger strike.

MARK COLVIN: Amnesty International inspectors have slammed the conditions at Australia's immigration detention centre in Nauru.

Inspectors today met more than 100 people staying at the centre and visited two detainees who are reportedly in hospital after going on a hunger strike.

Our reporter Jeff Waters joined me on a scratchy line from Nauru.

JEFF WATERS: They went in on their own, Mark. We'd been firmly told that no media will be allowed inside the detention facility.

I've been told by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesperson that there are fears that if the media does go in then trouble might be stirred up and it might end in violence.

So, all we can report really is what the Amnesty International team said when they emerged from three hours in the detention centre; they said they'd spoken to about a quarter of the almost 400 detainees inside the centre and they came out saying that they were taken aback by what they had seen.

They spoke to a lot of people who told them about concerns about mental illness problems and I'll just let you have a listen to what they said on that subject now.

GRAHAME THOM: Each group highlighted some very real concerns around the conditions they're facing. I guess in the front of their minds are the fact that they're not being processed. The uncertainty that's facing them is clearly having an impact on their mental health.

We saw people who showed us scars where they had cut themselves. They wanted to highlight one of the poles where somebody had tried to hang themselves.

MARK COLVIN: That's the leader of the Amnesty International inspection team, Dr Grahame Thom. Our reporter on Nauru is Jeff Waters. Jeff, what kind of conditions, what are the tents like where they're sleeping?

JEFF WATERS: Well, the Amnesty team described it as a very overcrowded facility. They say it's quite small for the number of people that are there. It's a very wet and humid day and it's always very hot here so when they went through they said that, they described that some of the tents actually were wet sides and that some of inmates were picking up infections as a result of the humid conditions.

Again, let's listen to what Dr Graham Thom had to say.

GRAEME THOM: When it's raining, as it is now, the tents are leaking and they wanted to show us how their bedding got wet at night and how they tried to sleep in wet conditions.

We were shown their skin and the skin conditions that are developing here. A number are developing rashes because of the heat and the humidity and the damp conditions they're sleeping in.

JEFF WATERS: I might say that I've received a response from Minister, Chris Bowen's office, the Immigration Minister's office, he says it should come as no surprise that Amnesty doesn't agree with the processing centre and that their opposition to offshore processing and immigration detention was established long before this facility was; which is a fair thing to say.

However, in a statement, there's a paragraph where they say that conditions in Nauru may not be pleasant but are the same conditions that Immigration staff are working under.

May I say that they may very well be working under the conditions but they're certainly not sleeping under them? All of the Australian Government workers here are housed in a number of hotels which have been booked until next year.

MARK COLVIN: Well, he seems to be saying that Amnesty International had its mind made up and therefore its descriptions can't be believed either.

JEFF WATERS: Well, that's the implication of what he's saying. He also emphasises that food and water are all available and medical care and mental health services are available when they're required.

That's something that Amnesty said actually wasn't the case and that there weren't enough mental health facilities on Nauru to be able to help these men.

MARK COLVIN: And also who is really in charge because yesterday you were reporting on the detainees being tried under Nauru law and now, today, you're saying that the Australian Government won't let you into the detention camp.

I mean where does the sovereignty lie?

JEFF WATERS: I'm told by the department that it's some form of joint sovereignty; that there's an agreement where both sides have to agree to let in journalists. I'm told that they weren't particularly happy with the way that the detention centre was reported by the media when it was established here last time under a previous government and they are reluctant to agree to letting the media in as well.

MARK COLVIN: Just to be clear though, it's not like some of the detention centres here where you can see through the wire. You are not allowed even to look inside it?

JEFF WATERS: That's correct. There's a (inaudible) a big 'Stop' sign on it and then behind that you can see a few low buildings, permanent structures but they're even obscured by fences which have been erected as screens, temporary fences so that you can't see that from the road either.